Richard Petty Unmasks NASCAR’s “Grandfather Clock” Inability Amidst Obliviousness of His Martinsville Treasure

Back in 1964, Martinsville Speedway, the shortest track in the NASCAR Cup Series, started the cool tradition of gifting the race winner a grandfather clock. Fred Lorenzen won the very first one. Meanwhile, NASCAR icon Richard Petty tops the charts with 15 wins at Martinsville. Chatting about his ‘grandfather’ clocks, which weren’t necessarily the ‘Grandfather’ ones, he spilled the beans on where those legendary trophies ended up.

Richard Petty and Dale Inman spill the beans on the story behind those iconic grandfather clock trophies

Richard Petty recently hit up Twitter with a video where he was seen chilling with Dale Inman. They dived into the tale of the famous Martinsville clock trophy that’s been a prize since the ’60s. But there’s more to this tradition than just the Cup Series, as it turns out winners from the lower series get to take home a clock too. Initially, these clocks were exclusive to Cup Series champs, but that’s all changed. Now, victors from the NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series, Truck Series, late models, and Modifieds all score one.

What’s there is that the early trophies weren’t as large as the ones we see today. Richard Petty dubbed the original trophies ‘grandmother’ clocks because they were a tad smaller. This tidbit came out while Petty and Inman were answering fan questions. A fan asked, “You won 15 times at Martinsville, where are those grandfather clocks now?”

Petty hit back with, “You know, I think I got the first one. Initially, they handed out grandmother clocks. They weren’t as large as the ones today. I think Dale snagged the second one, and my brother took home the third. As for the rest, I’m not quite sure where they’ve all ended up.” Dale Inman chimed in, adding, “We took home wins in both races. I mean, Richard did in ’69. I ended up with one of those wins, and it was a grandmother clock.” He also tossed in, “As for where the others have gotten to, I’m clueless too.”

For Richard Petty, the track is definitely special. And Martinsville Speedway found a special way to acknowledge the Petty family’s 75th anniversary in racing.

Martinsville Speedway introduced a statue to mark ‘The King’s’ big 75th racing anniversary

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Richard Petty, known as “The King,” wrapped up a stellar 35-year run in NASCAR back in ’92, with 200 wins. He hit the top-5 in almost half his races and has seven championships under his belt. This year, we’re celebrating 75 years of the Petty family’s racing legacy, and Martinsville Speedway kicked things off with a bang, unveiling a statue right outside the track. This ain’t just any statue—it’s shaped like Petty’s famous cowboy hat, decked out in the same blue as his legendary #43 car.

The statue’s also a mini-gallery of the Petty family’s Martinsville memories over the years. Richard Petty holds the record for most Cup Series wins at Martinsville with 15 victories. Funny enough, three of those wins came before the track started handing out those now-famous Grandfather Clock trophies, and the Petty crew half-jokes that the track still owes him those three. Kyle Petty quipped that maybe it’s for the best they skip the extra trophies at home.

But Martinsville Speedway’s not done celebrating Petty’s 75th anniversary in racing—they’ve got more in store when NASCAR swings back in October.

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